Oil candle apparatus

ABSTRACT

The present invention involves a combustion apparatus for utilizing as an oil candle. The apparatus is a material suitable for forming a heat sink, having a ring or cylinder for enclosing a wick which wick extends into oil suitable for oil candles, and a heat sink extending from the wick holder or forming the wick holder and connecting to or forming a base for distributing heat evenly along the heat sink within the oil to prevent flashover. The apparatus preferably utilizes a metal fiber wick and may comprise multiple wick holders.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention involves a combustion apparatus for utilizing as an oil candle. The apparatus is a material suitable for forming a heat sink, having essentially a ring or cylinder for enclosing a wick which wick extends into oil suitable for oil candles, and a heat sink extending from the wick and connecting to or forming a base for distributing heat evenly along the heat sink within the oil.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is an oil candle apparatus for use in closed or open containers having candle or lamp oil disposed therein, comprising a metal heat sink; a wick holder; and a wick. The heat sink and the wick holder may both be comprised of metal. The metal may be selected from the group consisting of copper, aluminum, gold, silver, steel, and mixtures thereof. At least two different types of metal may be used and do not need to be an alloy. The wick holder may be comprised of a non-metal, such as a ceramic, thermostable plastics, glass, rock, cement, composites, or other non-flammable materials known in the art.

The heat sink may be comprised of at least one wire disposed to secure the wick holder, or at least two wires wherein the at least one wire is disposed to secure the wick holder. The heat sink may be comprised of at least one sheet of metal, particularly wherein the wick holder is disposed within the surface of the at least one sheet of metal. However, the wick holder may be disposed adjacent to the surface of said at least one sheet of metal. Further, the heat sink may comprise a combination of wires, sheets, or thickened metal.

Alternatively, the heat sink may form the wick holder itself.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a side view of an embodiment of the invention with a disc-shaped heat sink and a tubular wick holder extending above;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the embodiment of the apparatus showing a tubular wick holder and three wall heat sink;

FIG. 3 depicts a perspective view of the invention having two walls as a heat sink and a tubular wick holder;

FIG. 4 depicts a downward perspective view of the invention having four walls as a heat sink and a tubular wick holder;

FIG. 5 depicts an embodiment of the device having six intersecting walls, three perpendicular to three, and a tubular wick holder;

FIG. 6 depicts an embodiment of the device having two intersecting “wire” walls disposed in a rectangular pattern;

FIG. 6 a depicts the assembly of the device shown from an upper side view in FIG. 6, beginning with wires disposed around the tube;

FIG. 6 b depicts further assembly as described in FIG. 6 a, showing the twisting of a wire around the wick holder tube;

FIG. 6 c depicts a central wick holder tube disposed in central relation to four vertical heat sink wire walls;

FIG. 7 depicts a view from above the assembly described in FIGS. 6-6 c; and

FIG. 8 depicts a sheet of metal bent at approximately a 45″ angle, serving as the heat sink with a wick holder tube disposed within the topmost surface.

PRIORITY

The present application claims priority from and is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/399,070, filed Apr. 6, 2006 which claimed priority from U.S. Provisional application filed on Apr. 6, 2005, number unknown and Oct. 21, 2005, number unknown. The specifications and drawings of these applications are herein incorporated by reference into the present application.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Oil candles utilize a liquid oil fuel for the combustible material of a candle as opposed to solid based fuels such as wax, paraffin, or other solid fuels. Oil as a fuel provides a permanent looking flame device as opposed to solid fuel incendiary devices which, once lit, have an altered “used” appearance inherently less attractive to an oil candle arrangement which simply requires the addition of a little more fuel to be exactly as it was previous to lighting. As such oil candles provide long burning attractive solutions to solid fuel based candles.

In the past, such decorative oil candles have most commonly employed bottles with a neck portion with a wick extending through the neck portion of a glass container wherein the glass container was a closed container and the bottle closure through which the wick passed was a porcelain plug.

In other instances, the wick was contained in a slender glass cylinder which had an enlarged head which prevented it from dropping through the bottle neck. Where the bottle opening was larger than the enlarged head, a grommet with an external diameter large enough to span the opening and an interior diameter less than that of the enlarged head was placed over the opening.

These “closed system” candles made it difficult on a user to refill the device, requiring the device be dismantled to either refill the oil or replace a wick. Further, some oil candles were assembled in such a manner as to prevent a user from replacing oil or the wick at all. And, perhaps most frustrating was the limitation of container. A user could not modify the container utilized by transferring the wick apparatus to another container thereby utilizing the existing “candle portion” while changing a part of the overall look with the ability to change the container. Finally, the “closed system” candles were limited to “closed containers”, thereby limiting the look of the candle to the closed container.

Known in the art at the time of the filing of this application is an incendiary fragrance device described as a dispenser of volatiles (aromatics) utilizing heating of a solid fuel, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,780,382 to Furner et al. The Furner aromatic device utilizes a heat sink disposed in a solid fuel. Lighting the wick in the device of Furner volatilizes aromatics within the solid fuel by distributing the heat along the fins and into a simmer plate beneath the fuel, essentially dispersing all possible heat along the fins and simmer plate to liquefy the fuel and heat it sufficiently to volatilize the aromatics to disperse the scent. The simmer plate and solid fuel are described as essential portions of this air freshening device. The present invention differs from the Furner device in that it is dispersed in liquid candle/lamp oil, not a solid fuel and does not require the use of a simmer plate. The object of the invention is to utilize the candle body as a heat sink to disperse heat from the candle to the oil to prevent dangerous flashovers (previously avoided by using closed systems). The heat sink distributes some heat to the oil sufficient to avoid flashover but does not actively heat the oil (or in the case of the Furner device, the solid fuel) to the highest temperature possible (as is needed in the Furner device to optimize aerosolization of volatile compounds, causing greater scent distribution).

Additionally, the present device utilizes a great improvement by incorporation of a metal wick which does not burn and therefore does not need replacing as other wicks known in the art.

There is a need in the art for an liquid fuel oil candle apparatus that allows for use of different containers, particularly open containers, and that is easily refilled with respect to oil and new wicks, or that utilizes a non-incendiary wick which does not need replacing therefore increasing ease of use of the device.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention comprises a novel oil candle apparatus. More particularly, it involves a specialized wick/heat sink apparatus that allows differing and open containers to be utilized as an oil candle.

The preferred embodiment of the invention comprises a unitary wick holder/heat sink combination device as shown in FIGS. 1 & 2. The wick holder/heat sink combination device 10 comprises wick holder area 12 and heat sink area 14. The device is preferably comprised of metal such as copper, aluminum, gold, silver, steel, brass mixtures thereof or other suitable heat sink materials known in the art. In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 1, a tube comprised of heat sink materials, as known in the art, typically a metal or metal alloy, including but not limited to copper, aluminum, gold, silver, brass, or steel and mixtures thereof, forms wick holder 16 which is disposed centrally through heat sink 18 which forms a disk shape and is placed in a seated manner along the bottom of a container containing oil (not shown). However, a non-metal wick holder, such as ceramic, may be utilized. This embodiment can be formed by forming disk 18 through forming a flat sheet of flashing around a circular form and cutting a corresponding hole 20 through disk 18 into which wick holder tube 16 is fitted or soldered. Wick 22 is disposed through central orifice 24 through tube 16 into contact with candle/lamp oil. Other methods known in the metal working industry may additionally be employed such as molding a single unit from molten metal in a form.

It is important in the present invention that the combination device 10 extend into the oil and encompass the wick, thereby serving as a heat sink. This function safely distributes the heat of the device to avoid flashovers, explosions, and burning of the wick while not overheating the oil. (The wick should serve as a conduit of the oil and not burn out itself).

Other embodiments of the invention serve the same wick holder/heat sink function with differing surface configurations. As shown in FIG. 2, apparatus 10 may comprise other configurations, including configurations formed out of flat sheets of metal, or incorporating thickened metal, such as cylinders of metal, other geometric metal shapes, or non-geometric metal shapes too thick to be designated as a wire or sheet of metal. Device 10 as shown in FIG. 2 comprises a wick holding tube 16 made by folding a flat sheet of metal around a cylindrical form and crimping the metal to shape. Stabilizing flaps 26 serve to keep the device 10 in an upright position and form a part of the heat sink 18 as do walls 28 adjacent to wick holder 16. One can appreciate that the device 10 can be easily made with hand tools or by machining by utilization of a rectangular piece of flashing-type metal, folded around cylindrical form and then bent to provide stabilizing pieces. As with the first embodiment described this and all other embodiments could be made by utilizing molten metal and a form.

Another embodiment as shown in FIG. 3 displaces walls 28 to form an angle relative to one another sufficient to maintain stability instead of providing stabilizing flaps. For example, an angle of 90° would form a stabilizing angle. The degree span between walls depends on the number of walls utilized. For instance a third stabilizing wall could be soldered onto tube 16 equidistant from the first two walls, thereby providing additional stability. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, four walls could serve the same stabilizing use. It follows that any number of walls greater than one could be utilized, as shown in FIG. 5. Also, as shown in FIG. 4, any essentially cylindrical configuration of tube 16 can be utilized.

Additionally, the heat sinks 18, need not comprise walls, but can comprise wires extending from tube 16 to a base, as shown in FIG. 6, showing the apparatus in use. There are four different parts of this embodiment of the invention. Part I is a length of tube, Parts II and III are lengths of wire, and Part IV is a length of cotton or fiberglass or metal wick (not illustrated).

Assembly of the apparatus can be achieved as follows, but maybe achieved by other methods known in the art: Beginning from the center of Parts II and III, which are bent 180° to the outside diameter of Part I (see FIG. 1 a), Parts II and III are placed in a fixture for soldering, or welding, the parts together. Then the next step consists of bending Parts II and III at points a, b, c, and d. The wire should look similar to FIG. 6 c. Referring to FIG. 6 c, 90° bends should then be made at points e, f, g, and h. Next, 85° bends should be made at points i, j, k, and l bringing the ends of the wire together at point m. The resulting shape should look similar to FIG. 7. At point m, the wires should be cut and then soldered or welded together. The connection of the ends of the wires at point m stabilizes the assembly. FIG. 6 c is a view looking vertically down on the assembly.

The purpose of the wire assembly is to suspend or hold Part I at a set height in the air. Then Part IV can be pushed or threaded into Part I. Then, the assembly is placed into a vessel and filled with lamp oil just to the upper wires. With capillary action, Part IV acts as a conduit delivering oil from the vessel to the flame. The height of the flame is regulated by the length of Part IV protruding from Part I.

Other arrangements of metal may be used as the heat sink, as shown in FIG. 8, wherein a sheet of metal is bent to an approximately 45° angle and a tube is disposed through a hole formed in a surface of the metal, or alongside the metal.

Also evident is that the invention can be formed by one continuous wire or one continuous sheet with either joined or non-joined ends. For example, a continuous sheet may have a wick holder formed by crimping the sheet around a cylindrical form to shape the wick holder with the two remaining ends around in a circle and being joined on the ends to form a continuous circle.

The device of the invention could easily be modified to be used into additional configurations utilizing the wick holder/heat sink combination, including multiple wick holders within the device for a “multi-candle” configuration. It is envisioned that many differing configurations will be utilized and the embodiments depicted herein are offered to be illustrative but not limiting of the invention.

Furthermore, the wick of the device may be novelly comprised of a metal fiber wick. For example thin metal fibers, similar or identical to those in steel wool are easily rolled into a wick shape which can be disposed as a wick in the device. The metal fiber wick utilizes capillary action to provide a continuous supply of oil to the flame of the candle. Alternatively, lengths of metal fibers can be laid side by side and bound at intervals by metal, ceramic or other non-flammable materials to maintain a bundle. Alternatively, lengths of metal fibers can be encased in a single sheath, such as within the wick holder itself during manufacturing or within a sheath insertable within the diameter of the wick holder. Alternatively, the metal wick may have a different geometric shape than circular to match a different geometric shape of wick holder, such as flat/rectangular. 

1. An oil candle apparatus comprising: a metal heat sink disposed in a seated position along a bottom interior surface of a container having a quantity of lamp oil disposed within said container, wherein said heat sink is disposed at least partially within said lamp oil; a wick holder; and a wick.
 2. The oil candle apparatus of claim 1 wherein the heat sink and the wick holder are both comprised of metal.
 3. The oil candle apparatus of claim 2 wherein the metal is selected from the group consisting of copper, aluminum, gold, silver, brass, steel, and mixtures thereof.
 4. The oil candle apparatus of claim 3 wherein at least two different types of metal are used.
 5. The oil candle of claim 4 wherein said at least two different types of metal used are not an alloy.
 6. The oil candle apparatus of claim 1 wherein said wick holder is comprised of a non-metal.
 7. The oil candle apparatus of claim 6 wherein said wick holder is comprised from a material selected from at least one member of the group consisting of ceramic, thermostable plastics, glass, rock, concrete, and composite materials.
 8. The oil candle apparatus of claim 1 wherein said heat sink is comprised of at least one wire, wherein said at least one wire is disposed to secure said wick holder.
 9. The oil candle apparatus of claim 1 wherein said heat sink is comprised of at least one sheet of metal having upper and lower surfaces.
 10. The oil candle apparatus of claim 9 wherein said wick holder is disposed through an opening in said sheet of metal and having two opposing openings of said wick holder such that said two openings are essentially planar to said upper and lower surfaces.
 11. The oil candle of claim 1 wherein said heat sink comprises a combination of wires, sheets, or thickened metal.
 12. The oil candle of claim 1 wherein said wick is comprised of metal fibers.
 13. An oil candle apparatus comprising: a metal heat sink disposed in a seated position along a bottom interior surface of a container having a quantity of lamp oil disposed within said container, wherein said heat sink is disposed at least partially within said lamp oil, wherein said heat sink is shaped to form a wick holder; and a wick.
 14. The oil candle apparatus of claim 13 wherein the metal is selected from the group consisting of copper, aluminum, gold, silver, steel, brass, and mixtures thereof.
 15. The oil candle of claim 14 wherein at least two different types of metal are used and selected from the group consisting of copper, aluminum, gold, silver, steel, brass, and mixtures thereof not as an alloy.
 16. The oil candle apparatus of claim 15 wherein said wick holder is comprised of a non-metal.
 17. The oil candle apparatus of claim 16 wherein said wick holder is comprised of ceramic or other non-combustible material.
 18. The oil candle apparatus of claim 13 wherein said heat sink is comprised of at least one sheet of metal.
 19. The oil candle of claim 1 wherein said wick is comprised of metal fibers.
 20. The candle of claim 1 comprising more than one wick holder. 